As part of our best of 2019 coverage, this week we’re asking:
What was your favorite episode of television this year?
Nick Wanserski
It would have been so easy for a television sequel to Watchmen to coast by on name recognition and a minimum of effort. Instead, Damon Lindelof took the graphic novel and turned it into a stunning exploration of race, trauma, and legacy. This is personified in “This Extraordinary Being,” where protagonist Angela Abar experiences her grandfather’s memories and reveals his origins as America’s first costumed crime fighter, one who wears a second mask under his first to hide his blackness from those who he would try and save. This exploration stands as important an exploration of superheroes since perhaps the original graphic novel was written. Alan Moore is famously prickly about superheroes and the licensing of his own creations, but Watchmen is easily the most Moore-like of adaptions; it takes an established property and breaks it down, in order to rebuild it and see how it works.
Erik Adams
The Battle Of Winterfell was one of 2019’s most-anticipated television events, and one of the most-involved productions in Game Of Thrones’ exceptionally involved eight-season run: Shot over the course of 55 nights and 11 weeks in frigid conditions, “The Long Night” marked the final confrontation between the defenders of the living and the armies of the dead. And then, like, five minutes after it ended, The Night King got slaughtered by another vengeful daughter: The true victor on the evening of April 28 was Barry’s “ronny/lily.” The episode is a surreal, surreally entertaining digression in the hitman comedy’s sophomore season, in which Bill Hader choreographed legible, bone-cracking, blood-splattered chaos better than the combined creative forces of the biggest TV show on the planet. “ronny/lilly” is plenty funny on its own—the pull-out that strands Barry among his latest target’s martial-arts prizes is brilliant and should be shown in any film study class—but its best joke was written by the folks who make the programming schedules at HBO.
Sam Barsanti
I love media that wears its unpopularity on its sleeve (shout out to Hollywood Handbook), and few TV shows are as good at that as American Dad. Specifically, I’d like to highlight “Top Of The Steve,” an episode that involves Steve and Roger attending a boarding school and quickly realizing that they’re actually living in a spin-off show—complete with new theme song, new storyline hooks, and a suspiciously Canadian setting that is probably cheaper to “film” at. The meta gag is that American Dad is going off the rails and needs to be refreshed, with the other characters even meeting potential Steve replacements like an adorable orphan and a previously unmentioned British relative.
Shannon Miller
The “Original Cast Album: Co-Op” episode of Documentary Now! is a windfall of riches for musical theater nerds. A loving (and thorough!) tribute to the late D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary, Original Cast Album: Company, writers John Mulaney and Seth Meyers could not have hit the nail more squarely on the head. From the comically histrionic dialogue (“Bye bye, box!”) to the spirited, vocally ambitious number handled expertly by Hamilton’s Renée Elise Goldsberry, every beat was so familiar. But it’s Paula Pell’s Patty and her Elaine Stritch-like struggle with her show-stopping number, “I Gotta Go,” that cements the episode’s objective. It would make absolutely zero sense for them to attempt a sequel to this parody, and yet I still want them to try— if only to hear Goldsberry sing about more colors and see Mulaney with another ’70s shag haircut.
Randall Colburn
There’s no episode of television I watched more this year than “It’s The Cigars You Smoke That Are Gonna Give You Cancer” from I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson. “Chunky,” a fifth-episode sketch, remains my personal favorite, but the one-two punch of the “stinky” car brainstorm and Conner O’Malley’s Robby Star makes the third entry essential viewing, as do Fred Willard and Tim Heidecker as a madcap organist and the world’s worst hipster, respectively. I guess you could say it’s really in my “Q-zone.”
Danette Chavez
I’m tempted to declare a tie, since this is my prompt and Lodge 49’s “Circles” set a new bar for worldbuilding flashbacks while Tuca & Bertie’s “The Jelly Lakes” left me speechless with its combination of construction paper animation and more fluid designs. But we’ve already had one of those this year, so I will just say that Shauna McGarry’s teleplay—brought to life by Tuca & Bertie creator Lisa Hanawalt and lead voice actors Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong—got under my skin in a way that few other stories did this year. And if ever a bit of casting was pulled from my dreams, it’s Jane Lynch and Isabella Rossellini voicing two lovebirds (actually, they’re a muscular turaco and a craft-loving owl, but you get my point).
Alex McLevy
Having lived and breathed the world of Mr. Robot since it premiered five years ago, I can honestly say the season four highlight “Proxy Authentication Required” is not only possibly the best TV episode of the year, but arguably the best installment the unconventional and ambitious series has ever done. Shedding its usual bag of tricks, Sam Esmail frames the entire thing as a postmodern stage play (it’s even broken into official acts), the camera roving and swirling around the four characters (five, if you count a certain guy who lives in protagonist Elliot Alderson’s mind) while building to one of the most searing emotional beats of the series. Mr. Robot always broke the fourth wall, but in this case it actually removed it from view altogether.
William Hughes
Another year, another nigh-perfect high-concept BoJack Horseman episode. But where “Free Churro” and “Fish Out Of Water” foregrounded their conceptual weirdness, mid-season finale “A Quick One, While He’s Away” is a lot more subtle. In fact, you might not even notice at first that none of the show’s principal cast appear. (The Margo Martindale cameo, and the Paget Brewster-voiced screwball reporter, serve as potent distractions.) By the time you do, though, the dread has already set in, as Raphael Bob-Waksberg flits across the series’ deep supporting bench, meticulously laying out all the ways BoJack’s hard-fought “redemption” has only been built by paving over all the unforgivable harm he’s done.
127 Comments
Some great ones there, including I Think You Should Leave, which I quote constantly, much to my work colleagues chagrin, the Barry ep mentioned and pretty much every Watchmen episode. Episode 8 of The Morning Show is a very emotional thing to watch. It’s disturbing as hell too. I won’t spoil it for those who have not seen it, but man…..
In that episode of ‘I Think You Should Leave’, I love Howie’s claim that if gazpacho is not served ice cold it will somehow become scalding hot due to adjusted expectations.
I mention the Colgate Comedy Hour whenever I can fit it into conversation.
Because I am seemingly obsessed to an almost disturbing level, but also as it was the one thing which made me laugh yesterday after the UK election results, the third episode of Joe Pera Talks With You all about his Grandma was not only incredibly sweet but truly funny too, and is now my favourite tv episode of the year.
Agreed. But I pretty much say that after every episode.
…Hockey player 2……Super Saiyan 2
Joe Pera talking about Dragon Ball was especially delightful.
Ditto on Coop! for me! Pitch perfect, and I’m still waiting for the full cast album release. Till then, I’ll rewatch Richard Kind do the full length version of Christmas Tips on Seth Myers.
And the brown and the beige and the brown and the beige and the brooown!
CAN YOU POST A LINK TO THE FULL LENGTH VERSION OF CHRISTMAS TIPS ON SETH MEYERS!?!?The clip has been removed from YouTube.
Sorry, it appears that it’s been cycled out of the clips available on Hulu and YouTube. Best I can do is this:
If, by chance, you’re Canadian, all three seasons of Documentary Now! are available on CBC Gem.
Going Up?
My favorite song
I’m still rewatching episode 1 of Chernobyl.It’s so fucking rewatchable it’s memey as fuck.
I’d say the Thunder Gun 4 episode of It’s always Sunny. It was just ridiculously funny to me. There were shows I liked better, but picking a single episode outta a show like Succession or Chernobyl seems silly to me, as I see them more as a really long movie with one narrative. Singling out a specific episode is usually just impossible for me cause I don’t exactly remember where each episode begins and ends.
AV Club has really been sleeping on Chernobyl a lot for these end-of-year bests, and I’m starting to wonder what’s going on. Anyway, I’m going with The Happiness of All Mankind, for how it recruited people to “liquidate” the area of pets (I didn’t even think about that) and of course, its 90 second roof scene.
AV Club is in the pocket of Big Russia. AV Club appartchiks will always seek to bury any media that makes their beloved Mother Russia look bad.
Virtually any episode of Chernobyl is better than the list they made.
Episode 3, “Open Wide, O Earth” is my choice, but episode 4 is a close second. Basically, spots 1-5 on my “best episodes of 2019″ list are occupied by Chernobyl.
For me it has got to be the Season 2 premiere of BBC’s Motherland. I hadn’t seen season 1 or even heard of the show before, but man! I think I watched that season 2 premiere about 4 times and almost died laughing each time!Tanya Moodie deserved an Emmy, a BAFTA, *all* the awards for what was easily the standout performance, she stole the show and the episodes without her suffered as a result. I’d rather have watched a spinoff show focused on her and hubby Anthony Head and their interracial family. They were a riot, and any ep without her and Anthony Head had me wondering “what are they up to? Can we see more of them please?”In second place I’ve got to put that episode of Russian Doll with [SPOILER]..Repeatedly falling down the stairs!
A God Walks into Abar for me. Also every episode of The Expanse S4 so far! Huge fan of the books, and I’m relatively happy with how they’ve adapted Cibola Burn and Gods of Risk.
THE CROWN’S final episode of the season, “Cri de Coeur.” After several problematic episodes, some woefully glossing over major events and worse, making up events out of thin air, you got Coleman and Bonham Carter giving their all in a tight buoyant script. HBC delivering a fully realized and sexual Princess Margaret and Coleman finally revealing a humanity, in spite of scandal, and love for her sister was worth the wait. One of the best of the series.
“No Better to be Safe Than Sorry” – The Magiciansit’s one of those episodes i don’t think i’ll ever forget. it was so sad and beautiful all at once, and with so much meaning.
Seasons 3 and 4 of The Good Place haven’t been as strong as the first two, but the most recent episode to air,“The Answer”, was probably the best since season 2 (in part because it moved the show forward with emotional development rather than breakneck plot development). So I’ll say that. Honorable mention to “The Hospital” or “The Wedding” from Undone. Also, the series finale of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which was as good a finale as one could reasonably expect even if it was slightly sappy.
+1 for “The Answer”. Just a beautiful episode and a wonderful showcase for William Jackson Harper.
“If you know to ask for it, then you already know what it says.”“I’d still like to see it again.”Beautiful.
American Gods: Treasure of the Sun (aka, the Mad Sweeney backstory episode.)… Aaaaaand it was reported 30 minutes ago the show fired Orlando Jones. Wtf, Starz?
I didn’t continue after the first season, and it seems odd that show is still airing after all the dysfunction behind the scenes. It’s not a Walking Dead type hit either where ratings are sufficient to justify bringing on a string of showrunners to keep it going.
It’s a premium channel. Moreover, it’s their flagship original show. That creates an entirely different dynamic than commercial broadcasting.
I thought Outlander was their flagship original show. And despite all the “wtf is starz lol”, my understanding is that they actually have more viewers than Showtime, and not because of American Gods.
Who has said “wtf is Starz lol?”
Numerous AVClubbers, at least back when the comments sections were thriving.
I’m not going to name names, but the new Season Three showrunner is
Connecticut-born and Yale-educated, so he’s very smart. And he thinks
that Mr. Nancy’s angry, get s*** done is the wrong message for black
America.
Fuck this show. I wonder what Gaiman thinks about this.
Well, Bryan Fuller wanted to develop the show beyond the original plot toward a more ambiguous and representative idea of America so I’m sure Gaiman made the right choice to chase him out.
Wtf? Hmm Charles Eglee is apparently responsible. I think it’s wrong to judge people based on their appearance since you’re not in control of what you are born with. The choices you make fashion wise on the other hand are more than fair game. On that note feel free to image search him.
Orlando Jones was one of the only reasons I slogged through season 2. At least we know Ian McShane can keep carrying the show like Atlas.
it was reported 30 minutes ago the show fired Orlando Jones. Wtf, Starz?Talk about shooting themselves in the foot; losing Gillian Anderson and Kristin Chenoweth was already a huge blow to that struggling-ass show.
I place the blame squarely on you, the viewer!
I’m surprised not to see episode 1 of the second series of Fleabag mentioned.
All the episodes. I would not be able to choose a favorite, although the “sexibition” where Fleabag dumps the Godmother’s champagne on the floor was pretty great.
That note-perfect, chef’s kiss of a finale
Lol; “This bidet – where I had my first orgasm.” “Because we are here to celebrate my body.”I wish there had been Amazon TV and Fleabag when I was 30; cause we needed this kind of (s)hero. I just can’t believe this kind of “I’m the only one” vagina-gazing would get an audience today.
The bit where her dad says, “I love you, but I’m not sure I like you all the time” is pretty brutal, but also beautiful in that it’s one of the first times he’s really honest with Fleabag rather than hiding behind stammered pleasantries.
Wwhatever one had the “I’m not a bad guy, I just have a shitty personality ” speech!
The season 2 premiere and finale should both be in contention for the best comedy episode of the year, I would think.
I love Fleabag’s sly “This is a love story” address to camera.Also, I can’t remember which episode it was, but the one where she uses her therapy coupon was wonderful, especially as it featured Fiona Shaw.Also also, the line, “She – don’t say it – she actually – just don’t say it – she actually orgasmed when she finished it. I said it.”
“ronny/lily” without question. The moment it finished, I skipped right back and watched it again. The finale, “berkman > block” is probably my second favorite, but it’s close.
I know that season 8 of Game of Thrones was much maligned, but The Long Night, though extremely hard to see, was magnificent. This was the episode I had longed for after Hardhome.
Great suggestions all around, but as for me, I gotta stick to my roots.As a 42-year vet of all things Star Wars, I’m loving the everloving shit out of The Mandalorian. If this is what Star Wars looks like in 2019, I’m all in. Favreau and Filoni are changing the game, and I couldn’t be more excited. There have only been six episodes of Mando so far, and while I really have loved them all, I gotta go with the pilot “Chapter 1″ just for the whole cultural relevance aspect. Mando’s a sheer badass, and all the cameos and callbacks have been a ton of fun (infamous nerd-basher Bill Burr in a fuckin’ Star Wars show!), but man, Baby Yoda cracked the world in half. I can’t wait to see what’s next.I’m stoked for Greta Thunberg, but if it was up to me, this adorable little motherfucker would be on the cover of Time magazine right this very minute.
He’ll have his chance over the next 900 years.
Its Toy-version won’t be under every Christmas tree this year (they really dropped the ball on that one), but NOW available fro pre-order Baby Yoda toys available for pre-order. https://fox5sandiego.com/2019/12/13/baby-yoda-toys-available-for-pre-order/So many big and little kids weeping with joy when they get their Order Confirmations.
I’m going to be 50 in a few months so I remember the whole deal of Star Wars figures not being available for Christmas 1977. That was because nobody really expected Star Wars to be a hit. I’m not sure what the excuse is this time.
I don’t have access to The Madalorian, but I’m guessing that baby yoda is part of the attraction so, yeah, it’s pretty mind-boggling that they missed their chance. By this time next year it could be Manda -who?I was there for the Star Wars premier too 😉
Keeping Baby Yoda secret.
Sorry if a hundred others have aggressively over-explained this to yuh already, buuuut…. apparently, Jon Favreau didn’t want early leaks surrounding Baby Yoda, so he asked Disney to not start releasing character toy designs until after beebee Yoda was revealed at the ens of the first episode. Pretty incredible that Disney acquiesced to the request, but it was brilliant as far as keeping a surprise, well… surprising.
It was to prevent leaks. Toy companies are notorious for not being able to keep details under wraps.
They didn’t really. There would have been no way to keep it secret and to put out the toy in time for Christmas.
Sure, OK.
Please tell me they are doing early bird gift certificates!
Lol. Just click on the site and order? I think they will be shipping them out in May. That is 6 months to wait. Also 6 months to anticipate. Anticipation can be wonderful. It may be your last experience of joy before the next election D: D:
“Magazine covers not make one great, hurm.”
“Cover of French Vogue, or do not. There is no try.”
Definitely “ronny/lily” for me as well. Nothing on TV this year was that incredible and unexpected in the moment, yet it worked perfectly with Barry’s bizarre mishmash of tones – veering sharply into horror was simultaneously insane and almost natural for that show’s ambitious sense of style. Plus, as mentioned, it following up the long-awaited battle on GoT felt like a move of supreme confidence, and was a bracing tonic after the mixed feelings from that episode.Caveat, I haven’t started Watchmen yet which I assume will be filled with awesome Lindelof weirdness in the Leftovers vein.
Are you guys still going to do a “what we missed on our best of list” list? I always really enjoy those for more obscure shows that might not get as many votes.
Let’s not fuck around here – it’s The Mandalorian episode with the Yodlet reveal.
If we’re talking American Dad this year, I have to go with Rabbit Ears. What a delightfully weird episode.
Oh man, great call! I loved that episode.
That was fantastic , practically a “ what if we made an episode of the twilight zone and set it in American Dad.”Since the show switched to a smaller network I think the writers have been taking more risks like that and the show really is the better for it. Also , you know , they can say ‘shit ‘ now !
It’s amazing how much better of a show “American Dad” is to “Family Guy”.
Yesterday my Mr. used the phrase “rabbit ears.” Apparently it means punching someone in the kidneys? We were referring to my POS brother-in-law, so I hope it’s true 🙂
Rabbit punch is what he meant, your Mr got it wrong. Back in ancient times when only the rich has color tv, rabbit ears referred to the two pronged antenna which sat on top of the tv.
American Dad is maybe one of my favorite shows of the last decade. Top fifteen, for sure. Consistently weird, consistently funny, and consistently willing to break its format for a gag. And Francine is an all-time great character.
Is there anywhere legit a British citizen can watch the latest season? Because I’ve kinda slipped on watching this even though it’s one of my favourite cartoons.
Paula Pell and “I Gotta Go” were the *least* inspired parts of Co Op.
Best no argument .
Legion? Anybody? Legion?
I’m going to go with the season finale of The Righteous Gemstones. Judy Gemstone will fucking WRECK a bitch.
I wish I could afford HBO 🙁
Her fucking monologue in the restaurant destroyed me. “And then we weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend anymore.” Haha. Just. Holy shit.
Good God that scene was amazing
Oh man, I’ve probably watched ronny/lilly about a dozen times by now. Never gets old.
The season 5 finale of Schitt’s Creek hit me hard. I love Cabaret and mirroring the structure was genius. Emily Hampshire is an absolute treasure and she had me in tears for the entire duration of that final musical number. Such a strong episode if you’re a fan of the show, which I would say has had a standout episode in each season.
i just watched the very first episode & it didn’t really grab me. everyone says how good a show it is. should i keep watching? does it get better?
Yes – it starts out as an Arrested Development knockoff but quickly becomes something very different. The most warm, humane, joyous show on TV right now.
It depends on your affinity for established character actors? But overall it does get better and it’s well-intentioned without being saccharin. And Moira Rose is one of the funniest characters in the last decade for sure.
First few episodes are a little broad. Too much focus on the “look at these rich folks in the poor town!” aspect. But it’s still funny. It gets remarkably better by the end of the first season and then rockets up to fantastic once they start committing to *and this isn’t a spoiler* trying to live there. Also, watch it for Annie Francis who is quite possibly the best character actress working today. She is consistently the funniest person on a show with literal superstars of comedy?
ok, i’ll keep going.
Oh God, her mannerisms and vocal affect as Alexis are so natural, I was actually taken aback when I heard her real voice the first time. Not to mention that Alexis has my favorite character arc, which is quite a feat since most of the other characters also have had amazing growth.
Annie Murphy! Deserves! An! Emmy!I’ve been saying. She may not win it for her turn as Alexis—though she should, like, for real—but she’ll win one some day soon, mark my words.
Stick it out and you shall be richly rewarded. It is so, so good. I was unsure at first, and then I ended up bingeing seasons 3-5 in like two days.
i think i was expecting it to be a broad comedy with a laugh track kind of thing & it’s not. i’ll keep going.
Russian Doll – “Ariadne”. An already weird show gets weirder. And then there’s a gunpunch reveal and a simple conversation that reveals the series’ heart beneath Nadia’s overly large black coat.
The thing about ‘Russian Doll’ for me is that I wouldn’t be able to pick out one episode. I watched the whole thing in one night and it merged into one amazing, weird, dark adventure for me.
I can probably think of better episodes of television if I think a little more on this, but the one that’s stuck with me is No Better To Be Safe Than Sorry, the season finale of The Magicians.
Since K-dramas air two episodes a week I’m going with episodes 11-12 of the series “Radiant” (Dazzling/The Light In Your Eyes). That’s the episode following the mother of all epic twists in episode 1o – (spoiler alert) the spunky young heroine having bizarre ‘magical realism’ adventures is actually 70+ years old , suffering from dementia, living in a convalescent home, and confusing past and present events in her mind. The final episodes play like its own standalone movie revealing the heroine’s tragic past. It stars the actress from Bong Joon-ho’s film ‘Mother’.
Jane the Virgin “Chapter One Hundred,” a beautiful and fitting finale for a beloved show.honorable mentions: Good Trouble’s “Parental Guidance Suggested,” Brockmire’s “Placed on Waivers,” The Hot Zone’s “Arrival.”
That Barry write-up kind of hurt my head.
Of all those mentioned, ronny/lilly has to take the cake. It was so unexpected and so glorious. The fact that it beat out the massive Game of Thrones battle for Winterfell for best HBO show of the night is either an impressive achievement or not, depending on how much you liked the final season of GoT.
Electric Blue: Vol 23-24 with the nude footage of Marilyn Monroe. I finally got the VHS in the mail after it’s been lost since 1987.
Two of my faves involved big musical numbers: the Cabaret episode of Schitts Creek and the phenomenal Eat Shit Bob episode of Last Week Tonight
Not exactly an episode of television, but why hasn’t there been more love for the finale of Deadwood in all of these year-end best of bits?
A lot of superhero stuff did it for me:TITANS ‘Connor’ episode, because it wasn’t afraid to be a little goofy (Krypto!) but also didn’t cheat us on showing how powerful Superboy is.The very last episode of SWAMP THING for finally delivering on Floronic Man. Basically any episode of DOOM PATROL, for being weird but fantastic with it.And:CASTLE ROCK’s recent ‘The Word’ episode, for pulling THAT reveal on us. EVIL episode 4, in which the team investigate a disturbed 9 year old boy. I’m enjoying this series but this episode – oh boy – it gets DARK. Strong stuff.
Mr. Robot continues to kill it this season and 407 was amazing, but my favorite episode of TV this season has been “405 Method Not Allowed”, the method apparently being talking (and the dialog that bookended the episode was all about denying then allowing speech: “we don’t have to talk” vs. “it’s time we talked”). Not only did it force you to pay more attention than usual because of the no talking thing, it also rewarded you for doing that with little Easter egg references to Nosferatu & other silent film era tidbits. The episode’s break-in takes place on Christmas Day and the security guards at the facility are watching Die Hard – with no sound. The on-foot police chase with Elliot was one of the most tense things I’ve seen on TV in a long time. This is the episode that made me rewatch immediately on the DVR and Google all the written text I could see. Just fabulous.
Don’t have cable. Am an over-the-air antenna tv Guy. Best TV show episode saw this year was probably another repeat episode of ‘The Closer’ that have already prolly seen 3 or 4 times already. Star Trek Next Generation & Deep Space 9 are also in the running for the best repeat episode category. Think have seen all of them damn Star Treky eps too. Star Trek: Voyager, on the other hand, hasn’t really aged that well. Captain Janeway still looks good though.%%%% ooh, ooh, gotta add M*A*S*H 7pm/8pm Sunday – Friday, Channel 2.1, MeTV.
The Thanksgiving episode of “The Unicorn” was surprisingly affective. If you liked “Happy Endings,” then this is a show for you.
“Penultimate Patrol”- Doom Patrol, for reasons I’m not spoiling here. If you’ve seen it, you probably agree with me.
yes yes! YES! it’d probably be my pick as well..
That Rick and Morty heist episode was something else. Documentary Now’s Waiting for the Artist. The Veep finale.
I don’t watch American Dad at all.But I’m very intrigued by the idea of the episode mentioned here. That just seems like a really genius thing to do and I don’t think that has been done before either.
There’s very little continuity episode so you can pretty much watch episodes on their own. And while it’s gotten weirder on TBS, there were definitely meta jokes during the Fox run. In one episode a stage light falls breaking a characters leg and he spends the rest of the episode in a cast. There was another where a character decides that his B-plot is so convoluted and ridiculous that he just throws out his script and walks off set.
No love for Succession? The season finale was masterful. I find this show head-and-shoulders above anything else on TV.
No particular orderGame Of Thrones – A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms (because of this scene)
Barry – Ronny/Lily
Mr Inbetween – Socks Are ImportantChernobyl – 1:23:45Legion – Chapter 26Into The Badlands – Seven Strike As One (series finale)
The Cry – Episode 3 (This actually came out in 2018 but aired here in 2019)
Back To Life – Episode 6When They See Us – Part 4
I read all the books and relished getting to see so many of my favorite moments brought to life on screen, but that scene literally made Game of Thrones for me…
you’re the first person that I have seen mention Mr. In Between on this site – thanks! I love this show, it’s my new favorite and this episode is fantastic. Actually they’re all awesome – every single one. “Monsters” is also great, and from season one “On behalf of society”.
That show is a victim of Peak TV. It falls through the cracks so not a lot sites talk about it.
Mr Inbetween rules! That final scene in the finale was one of the most powerful scenes of the year. Wish somebody was talking about it.
You’re probably right, but this site seems to know about everything that is worth watching. I just can’t believe that it has never been mentioned here before. Shameful!
Technically, according to Spectrum TV’s program guide, the Deadwood Movie was S4 episodes 1 & 2. If that counts here, I’d go with that.Shout out to E3 of What we Do in the Shadows, “Werewolf Feud.” Ronny/Lilly was great, but the feud scene in Werewolf Feud had the funniest single scene for me of the year.Finally a shout out to Legion S3 “Chapter 23.” The Time Demons attack and Lenny Busker loses her lover Salmon and their daughter. Just crushing – a character you never thought would be broken is broken.
Oh man, there was so much good stuff this year. I’ll give my favorite but also my favorite by categories:Favorite episode: Chernobyl episode 3 “Open Wide, O Earth.” Most people will say episode 4 if the best of the series, but for me episode 3 was it. The character development and the development of the relationship between Legasov and Shcherbina is perfect. The episode balances the absolute horror of the radiation burns in the hospital with the grim levity of the miners. It seamlessly moves the miniseries from a close-up of a disaster as it happens to a war of attrition against an invisible foe. I love love love it.If I’m being honest, Chernobyl episodes 1-5 occupy my top 5 slots. That whole series was perfect. But just listing one thing is boring. So here are my best ofs.Comedy: Best: Barry “ronny/lily,” but the finale was also jaw-dropping. Other notables: Fleabag episode 1 (The Dinner) and episode 6 (the finale)—no show better balanced pathos and comedy this year. Schitt’s Creek had so many great moments. It has the biggest heart of any show on TV, all while being consistently laugh-out-loud funny. The episode “The Hike,” had my favorite sequence, where Patrick and David get engaged (Go back and rewatch Noah Reid as Patrick as everything falls apart. It’s masterful acting), but “Meet the Parents” was also so so good. But the best episode was “Life is a Cabaret.” When Stevie sang the final number, I wept like a baby. The Chidi-centric episode of The Good Place was also a high point. Drama: Best (after Chernobyl): When They See Us Part 4. Jherrel Jerome puts on a tour-de-force, and DuVernay’s direction is focused and note for note perfect. Other notables: Watchmen “This Extraordinary Being” and “A God Walks into Abar.” I wasn’t keen on Watchmen at first, but it’s grown on me. I still have some gripes about the pacing and structure, but the last few episodes have been very good. The Act episode 2 “Teeth.” Joey King’s aching loneliness and despair are palpable.
No Chernobyl, Fleabag, Succession…? I’m sorry but these lists are dumb af lol.
Quick shout out to Midsomer Murders for existing but yeah I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Robot dude in saying that the stage play they did was the best episode that I’ve seen all year. My second favourite episode of Mr. Robot was last week’s one because it had Hall and Oates, Carly Rae Jepsen and Bobby Canavale which instantly makes it an all time great in my books. Because bubba I can watch anything with Bobby Canavale in because he seems like such a swell guy. Make a movie with him, John Nettles, Tom Hanks, Dean Cameron, Oh Nami, Kristen Bell, Whoopi Goldberg and like Betty White in it and that’d be the most darndest swellest thing you’d ever watch.
Gotta say, I enjoyed episodes 7 and 8 of Watchmen (An Almost Religous Awe and A God Walks Into Abar) a lot more than This Extraordinary Being. Maybe it’s because I’m into the show for the storytelling and am a sucker for a good love story, and only tangentially care about its exploration of racial issues.(Yes, I am a white male.) :(Between the two, I’d be hard pressed to say which is my favorite. So I won’t try.
Gotta say, I enjoyed episodes 7 and 8 of Watchmen (An Almost Religous Awe and A God Walks Into Abar) a lot more than This Extraordinary Being. Maybe it’s because I’m into the show for the storytelling and am a sucker for a good love story, and only tangentially care about its exploration of racial issues.(Yes, I am a white male.) :(Between the two, I’d be hard pressed to say which is my favorite. So I won’t try.
Mandalorian episode 1.
I turned 40 this year and never expected to actually get a decent Star Wars TV show, much less to fall in love with this show. It’s been worth the price of admission alone, not to mention the VAST library of shows Disney+ bundled with it.
Crisis on Infinite Earths.
I have trouble remembering all the TV I watched in a given year, so this might not be the absolute best I’ve seen but certainly a front runner: “Change Your Mind”, the episode that wrapped up the Homeworld arc of ‘Steven Universe’. There was the terrifying figure of White Diamond, Steven’s asserting of his own identity, an epic fusion battle, and of course the show’s beating heart, stronger than ever.